Kendall

Postcode: 2439

Kendall is a quiet village of some 250 people located just off the Pacific Highway, 371 km north-east of Sydney and 36 km south-west of Port Macquarie. It was originally known as Camden Heads as it is situated on the Camden Haven River but was later changed in honour of poet Henry Kendall.

Despite critical success with his poetry, Kendall was troubled by poverty, depression, family problems and alcoholism in the late 1860s and early 1870s. He was found not guilty of forging a cheque on the grounds of insanity in 1870 and his wife moved in with her brothers. Kendall become a homeless derelict and dipsomaniac and, after a nervous breakdown, he wound up in an institution where he regained some equilibrium. The Fagan family of Gosford then took him under their wing and, in 1875, he was sent to work in their store at what was then Camden Heads. There his wife rejoined him and he returned to physical and mental health.

While in Camden Heads he composed topical and political skits for the press and, in 1879, wrote the words for the cantata to be sung at the Sydney International Exhibition. He also won 100 guineas for an occasional poem in celebration of the same event. Kendall's third volume of verse, Songs From the Mountains (1880) was his first financial success, selling a record number of copies in the first two months. The following year he left Kendall as Henry Parkes obtained for him an inspectorship of State Forests but the work proved damaging to his health and he collapsed and soon died in 1882.

A pine tree in the main street now marks the site of Kendall's house and there is a plaque in his honour in a small park off the main street.

The mountain known as Middle Brother looms to the south of the township. Kendall is surrounded by forestry which incorporates two of the state's tallest trees.

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